Archives for September 2014

Recent legislation providing solar tax credits for residential homeowners has allowed billionaires, corporations, and Wall Street financiers to profit at the expense of working class Americans. Solar corporations leasing panels to home owners, rather than selling, have reaped the financial benefit of solar tax credits intended for home owners to the tune of hundreds of millions. These tax credits to solar companies have boosted dividends for their shareholders at taxpayers’ expense, while panel-leasing home owners get no immediate financial benefit.

Worse. Solar tax credits discriminate against lower income communities. Group housing, where many lower income families reside, cannot install residential solar panels, and are therefore not eligible from the get-go for these special tax credits.

Arizona is subsidizing the solar industry with $1.2 billion on residential solar, and not a dime goes to the state’s lowest income sectors – yet, another reason not to have discriminatory solar tax credits.

Further, after residential panels are installed at huge costs to taxpayers, the system of net metering goes to work, also discriminating against the working class. Owners of solar panels can buy power from the grid as needed, or ship surplus power back to the grid when they produce more than they use. Under net metering, solar panel owners, however, avoid paying for the service and repairs to maintain the grid. These costs to maintain the grid are then shifted to non-solar users, placing a higher financial burden on this group, resulting in a disproportionate share of the burden falling on the aforementioned lower income sectors.

In Arizona, taxpayer subsidized solar panel ownership has led to the adding of “environmental programs cost adjustment factor” and renewable energy fees on utility bills, raising financial burdens for all non-solar users, lower income families included. For example, the city of Scottsdale has a median family income of over $92,000. Just in the past 5 years, they have had over 1,200 solar installations, which are eligible for state and federal subsidies. In contrast, an area in south Phoenix with 29,000 residents and an average income of $41,000 has only 45 residential solar installations. This is just an example, but the statistics are undeniable: Taxpayer subsidies go to wealthier communities by a factor of 26 times more than lower income communities.

Regressive solar tax credits should end immediately. Why have we chosen one industry over another? And worse, we’ve chosen a discriminatory industry that keeps lower income communities down by unfairly forcing them to pay for others solar installation and operation. Under any sun, these policies are just plain wrong.

My middle class family cannot afford health insurance. Simply put, the premiums are too high, the deductibles have exploded and the coverage and access to doctors has gone down.

When President Obama said health insurance would improve, he lied. His biggest advocate here in Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, lied.

Now my family has no coverage. We make too much money to qualify for the Medicaid expansion and we make too little money to pay the high monthly premiums – even with the subsidies!

Not only that, the new healthcare system requires individuals to give access to your bank account as a monthly debit – something I refuse to do.

I imagine there are millions of Americans who also signed up for the automatic monthly debits. When that monthly payment takes place, they better have the money in the bank or they’ll probably get hit with bank fees.

Next year when I do my taxes, I’m going to be penalized for not being able to afford health insurance. The IRS will penalize me for not signing up by reducing my tax refund (if I get one) – insult to injury!

America’s health insurance market has been made worse, far worse. Like public education, health care has been dumbed down. Middle class Americans are worse off now thanks to Democrats and President Obama.

If you’re like me, you know that elections have consequences. If you’re like me, you’ll focus your anger on the ballot box this November.

There is far more that the public needs to know than has been reported about Russell Pearce’s so-called “insensitive comments,” and I intend to report it. Then, and only then, will I “move on.”

It wasn’t the “mainstream” media that originally published the misleading story about Russell Pearce’s comments. It was Stephen Lemons of the tabloid Phoenix New Times. It’s important that Republicans know about Lemons, who calls himself the “feathered bastard,” and about the Phoenix New Times. Both are infamous for their venomous articles against Republicans and, in particular, conservatives. Stephen Lemons has made a career out of stalking Russell Pearce, trolling for anything that can be turned into dirt, attaching a lurid title and publishing it. To say that the man is merely obsessed with destroying Pearce and his livelihood assumes that Lemons is sane.

Don’t you think that 6,690 hate-filled articles against one person is a tad suspect? I wouldn’t give the Phoenix New Times or any of its shiftless, creepy writers the time of day, much less an interview. (I’d have to take a shower afterward to wash off the slime.)

Here’s a link to those (at last count) 6,690 articles. That’s 690 pages of titles, 10 to a page.

Click HERE for Lemons’ “breaking news” original article. Lemons bragged in a later article against Pearce: “I was the first to report Pearce’s statements. It’s safe to say that if I had not reported them, the story would not have been picked up by other outlets, such as The Raw Story, which posted a clip of the radio show on YouTube.” Click HERE for that article.

Imagine if somebody stalked you 24/7 for the last 7 years, trolling for something, anything, and then twisting it to be used against you.

If you scratch the surface of the Phoenix New Times tabloid chanters just a little, you would discover that everything that has been published by them against Pearce is either a lie or a half-truth. The problem with a half-truth is that, when it comes to the New Times, you most likely got the wrong half.

Why the Visceral Hatred for Russell Pearce?

Why has this bunch of low-lifes got Russell Pearce in its crosshairs? For the same reason he was targeted for the Recall: Senate President Russell Pearce crafted most of SB1070. Nearly three years ago, I wrote an article which was published in American Thinker about who was behind the Recall and why. Click HERE to read “Leftist Recall Strikes Architect of SB1070 in Arizona.”

Also, Russell Pearce was an extremely effective state legislator, which made him an equally serious threat to Arizona’s Left. See The Russell Pearce Record.

Phoenix New Times and Sex Trafficking of Children.

Phoenix New Times is owned by the Village Voice Media, the same company that owns BackPage.com, which is the largest source for adult services listings on the Internet. Its ads for “escort services,” includes selling children’s sexual services to pedophiles. Sex trafficking is a multi-million dollar business. The two primary share holders of Village Voice Media are Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, founders of the Phoenix New Times. See Village Voice Pimps. See also Where Pimps Peddle their Goods.

This sleaze has gonemostly unreported locally. In fact, you often must go to media outlets outside of the United States to find out what’s going on inside our country. Click HERE for a link to the Daily Mail UK News article titled “Teenage girls sue Backpage.com as they claim controversial sex website is responsible for their trafficking.”

Here is some rare local reporting by ABC 15 News. See “MCSO: 51 arrests include prostitution on Backpage.com.” Here’s a quote: “They (MCSO) discovered the prostitute’s information came from Backpage.com, a website owned and operated by the Phoenix-based Village Voice Media group, which also owns Phoenix New Times.”

Republicans Go off the Rails

It pains me to say this right now when we should be exposing how far to the Left the Democrats have become in our state legislature. However, when some of our Republican candidates went off half-cocked and started “condemning” Russell Pearce, based on the Leftist word of Stephen Lemons, it was one of the most appalling acts of disloyalty I’ve ever witnessed. No wonder Republicans are leaving the party, when their own leaders behave like buzzards picking the bones of a comrade that their enemy just shot down.

PHOENIX – Today Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham reminded Arizona voters that state Democrat leaders unilaterally chose their nominees, deliberately avoiding providing meaningful choices for voters in the August primary election. Graham said no amount of participation from national Democrat leaders now can overcome the resulting weakened state of the Democrat candidates in Arizona.

“Bringing in a figure as controversial as Debbie Wasserman Schultz only serves to show how tone-deaf Arizona Democrats are about the role of voters in their own elections,” said Robert Graham, Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. “You’d think lobbyist Fred DuVal, who is trying to reposition himself and shed his well-deserved liberal image — that he would join his fellow party insiders and stay away from her hyperpartisanship as leader of the Democratic National Committee.”

While the nation today is celebrating National Voter Registration Day, Democrats still face an uphill battle. In Maricopa County, which contains more than 60% of the state’s voters, Republican voters outnumber Democrat voters by 12 percent. And low registration numbers are only part of the Democrats’ problems: Republican turnout in the last month’s primary election was also 12 percent higher than that of the Democrats.

“It’s no surprise that Fred DuVal would campaign with Debbie Wasserman Schultz considering she is a fellow Washington, DC liberal who supports increasing taxes, more regulations on employers and amnesty for illegal immigrants,” said Jordan Rose, founder and president of Rose Law Group, Arizona’s largest female-owned law firm. “Wasserman Schultz’s record of advocating for policies that hurt hardworking families is a perfect fit for DuVal, a lobbyist, who intends to run up the debt, explode the size of government and pass the bill on to taxpayers.”

BACKGROUND:

POLITICO recently reported that many of Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s fellow Democrats “have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson at a time when they need her most.” But Fred DuVal and other Arizona Democrats apparently can’t wait to rally with her in Phoenix.

Arizona voters have the chance to hear from the DNC Chair who:

Can’t Even Get Along With A Democrat President. “Obama and Wasserman Schultz have rarely even talked since 2011. They don’t meet about strategy or messaging. They don’t talk much on the phone … The DNC chair … isn’t involved in the strategy talks with the president. They don’t want her there.” (Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Democrats Turn On Debbie Wasserman Schultz,” POLITICO, 9/17/14)

Is Called “Completely Unprofessional And Rude” By Her Fellow Democrats. “When [White House aide Valerie] Jarrett found out that Wasserman Schultz had had her daughter sit in on the interview with Wicks at the end of July 2013, she called to register her dismay, describing Wasserman Schultz’s behavior, according to people familiar with the conversation, as ‘completely unprofessional and rude.’” (Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Democrats Turn On Debbie Wasserman Schultz,” POLITICO, 9/17/14)

Suggested That Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker And Tea Party Members Beat Women. “In Milwaukee earlier this month for a women’s roundtable, Wasserman Schultz said that Gov. Scott Walker has given the ‘back of his hand’ to women. ‘I know that is stark. I know that is direct. But that is reality,’ she said. ‘What Republican tea party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back’ … [Walker’s] Democratic opponent, Mary Burke (who wasn’t at the event), quickly distanced herself from Wasserman Schultz’s remarks … [P]eople people say Wasserman Schultz would only be a liability if she returned. ‘Her ineptitude during her last visit makes it impossible to go back before the election,’ said a person familiar with the Burke campaign.”(Edward-Isaac Dovere, “Democrats Turn On Debbie Wasserman Schultz,” POLITICO, 9/17/14)

Received A Taxpayer Score Of “F” From The National Taxpayers Union. “The Taxpayer Score measures the strength of support for reducing spending and regulation and opposing higher taxes … A score significantly below average qualifies for a grade of ‘F.’ This failing grade places the Member into the ‘Big Spender’ category.” (“NTU Rates Congress, 113th Congress, First Session [2013], National Taxpayers Union, 9/16/14)

Supports President Obama’s Unilateral Action On Immigration. “Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said President Barack Obama should use his executive power to grant work permits to millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally. ‘The irresponsible thing to do is to do nothing,’ the Florida congresswoman said today at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington. ‘The president should do within the boundaries of his executive authority what he can do if Congress refuses to act.’” (Lisa Lerer, “Wasserman Schultz Backs Broad Obama Action On Immigration,” Bloomberg, 7/30/14)

In a very close race between Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Ron Barber every vote counts. During the time Ron Barber has been in congress, his votes have hurt southern Arizonans through more regulation, higher taxes, more spending, higher debt, weakened national security, increase healthcare premiums and deductions, less quality of care and the list goes on.

Sadly, those who would call themselves “Republicans” went public in their support for Ron Barber and his support of the Pelosi, Reid, Obama agenda that is hurting southern Arizonans.

We thought you ought to know who these Republicans are and bring their name out in the public arena.

Our recommendation is that NONE of these pseudo Republicans be invited to Republican events sponsored or hosted by the Pima and Cochise County Republican Parties, the Arizona Republican Party and the Republican National Committee. This means not being invited to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016. Whether or not you choose to support their businesses is your choice but they have decided to work against the mission and goals of the Republican party to restore fiscal sanity to our local, state and national government.

A $1.4 BILLION property tax increase. That is the one thing the proponents of Proposition 480 keep leaving off their talking points. Proposition 480 is a $1.4 Billion property tax increase to pay for a brand, spanking new Government County Hospital.

Keep in mind we already spent millions for hospitals expanding Medicaid and we haven’t even seen how much the increased revenue has been to the County Hospital yet. Plus, keep in mind you are already being taxed on your property tax bill for the County Hospital to the tune of $60 million a year. How much is enough for more government health care?

Clearly, the County Hospital wants to compete with the private sector hospitals which was not its original mission. In fact, it was to serve those that cannot be served by the private hospitals. So, let me get this right, they now want to use $1.4 billion of new tax money to compete with the private sector to provide EVEN MORE government healthcare. Who thinks that is a good idea?

Well, you won’t be surprised to learn that the same forces that rammed Medicaid expansion through the legislature are at it again. Insider, political operative, Chuck Coughlin is the head cheerleader for proposition 480 and he has put together a “who’s who” list of tax increase supporters like Ed Pastor, Mary Rose “Never met a tax I didn’t like” Wilcox, Rodney Glassman from (we can’t tax you enough, Pima County), and Michael “we need a bigger tax for light rail” Johnson. What’s $1.4 Billion to them, right?

And doesn’t anyone find it slightly curious that they are actually spending all this money to provide LESS beds? That’s right. We are spending over a BILLION dollars to make a SMALLER hospital with less beds. Only government works this effectively to produce less with more.

Don’t let this proposition sneak by because nobody knew it was over a BILLION dollars. E-mail your friends and neighbors to check out the website at www.votenoon480.com and urge them to vote NO on Proportion 480 so all of us can avoid the 3rd largest tax increase in Arizona history, paid for by the citizens of only one county!

Of all the malfeasant scandals the Clintons have committed, from lying under oath, to Whitewater to the Marc Rich pardon, little compares to the politically craven 1999 clemencies to 16 unrepentant terrorists of the Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN (Armed Forces for National Liberation). Fred DuVal was the co-chair of President Clinton’s White House Interagency Group of Puerto Rico, one of the groups that actively promoted clemency for terrorists.

From 1974 to 1983, the FALN waged a merciless, bloody war against the United States, attacking civilians mainly in Chicago and New York. On January 24, 1975, the FALN’s most deadly attack, the infamous lunchtime bombing of Fraunces Tavern, a New York City landmark, killed my father, Frank Connor, 33, and three other innocent men. It was supposed to be the day we would celebrate my brother’s 11th birthday, and my 9th.

An FALN communique of that day took credit for the attack, which it called a blow against “reactionary corporate executives.” In fact, my dad was born to immigrants and raised in working-class Washington Heights in northern Manhattan, not far from several of the FALN terrorists themselves.

The FALN continued its reign of terror until the early 1980s, when 11 of its members were arrested, tried and convicted of (among other serious felonies) weapons possession and seditious conspiracy. The entirely appropriate prison terms were to run from 55 to 70 years. During their Chicago trials, these defendants rejected US jurisdiction, claiming to be prisoners of war. Several FALN members threatened to kill or maim the judge, Thomas McMillan.

However, on August 11, 1999, President Clinton, (almost certainly in an attempt to gain favor with New York’s Latino community for Hillary Clinton’s 2000 NY senate run) offered 16 FALN members executive clemency. The FALN terrorists did not even request their own clemency. Freedom was engineered on their behalf by none other than then Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder with the help of DuVal’s interagency group. Disgracefully terror supporters were provided a reported nine meetings with the Justice Department while victims and families like ours were ignored. We only found out about the clemencies after they had been offered. If the unrepentant terrorists weren’t granted a month to decide to accept their freedom, they would have been released before families even knew of the offers.

Tellingly, one of the terrorists, Oscar Lopez Rivera, whose release DuVal’s office championed, was so committed to his comrades and cause that he outright refused clemency and remains in prison today.

DuVal and terrorist supporters may recite the line that these terrorists were not accused of killing or harming anyone. In fact, they were convicted of willfully and knowingly joining a conspiracy to commit various acts of violence, including 28 Chicago-area bombings that maimed several people.

Further, all evidence indicates that those convicted in Chicago were part of the same national conspiracy that killed five people in New York, including the Fraunces murders and the New Year’s Eve 1982 attacks on Police Headquarters that left three NYPD detectives permanently injured.

The most vital role of government is to protect its citizenry. As I said when testifying at Eric Holder’s AG confirmation in hearing in 2009, by releasing terrorists Holder (and by extension, DuVal) was playing Russian roulette with the American people. Arizonans saw the results of that again through Operation Fast and Furious and the death of Border Agent Brian Terry.

Does Arizona want a governor who has already put cheap politics ahead of the safety of the citizens he is sworn to protect? I think not.

Joseph Connor works in the financial services industry. He testified at Eric Holder’s 2009 Senate AG Confirmation Hearing and is co-author of “The New Founders,” a novel bringing the American founders alive in the 21st Century.

PHOENIX, Ariz., Sept. 10, 2014 – Appreciating that the state’s attorney general is our last line of defense against the overreach of an aggressive federal government, Arizona’s leading small-business association today announced its endorsement of Mark Brnovich for Arizona’s next attorney general.

“Arizona’s job creators trust Mark Brnovich to enforce the law and protect our communities,” said Farrell Quinlan, Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). “Arizona’s entrepreneurs are confident Mark Brnovich will foster a safe and secure environment and ensure a level playing field so our small businesses can thrive.”

This poll of 379 Arizona small-business owners was conducted by NFIB/Arizona between August 28 and September 4, 2014.

The Brnovich endorsement is the 7,000-Arizona-member-strong, small-business advocacy group’s first endorsement in the attorney general’s race in more than a decade. The decision to endorse was largely driven by the results of a survey of small-business owners that revealed a decisive favorite. In that survey, former federal prosecutor and ex-Gaming Department chief Mark Brnovich received 89 percent support to former top state banking regulator Felecia Rotellini’s 11 percent in the poll of 379 Arizona small-business owners conducted by NFIB August 28 to September 4, 2014.

“As Arizona’s next attorney general, Mark Brnovich will provide solid legal advice to state regulatory agencies in order to prevent overreach, regulatory bullying of small-business owners and to ensure state agencies aren’t acting on bad or inaccurate legal advice,” Quinlan said.

The formal endorsement of Mark Brnovich was made by the NFIB/Arizona Save America’s Free Enterprise (SAFE) Trust, the political action committee of NFIB members in Arizona.

Republican Attorney General nominee Mark Brnovich discusses small business issues today at the NFIB/Arizona Small Business Forum in Phoenix. Earlier in the day NFIB/Arizona announced its endorsement of Brnovich and reported that 89% of small business owners polled supported the election of the former federal prosecutor.

For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.

About Sonoran Alliance

Arizona's most popular and prominent political blog covering political news and events, commentary and information with a blatantly conservative worldview. We are an alliance of writers, activists, consultants and government insiders.